This relates to assemblies of electrical and mechanical components for electronic devices, and, more particularly, to ways in which to incorporate components into printed circuit board structures.
Electronic devices use integrated circuits and electrical components such as switches. These components are typically mounted to the surface of a printed circuit board using solder.
Printed circuit boards may be formed from substrates such as fiberglass-filled epoxy. In complex designs, multiple board layers may be laminated to form a multilayer printed circuit board.
In a typical printed circuit board arrangement, parts are attached to the surface of the outermost board layer. Vias may be formed to interconnect board layers. Some boards have included embedded microphones.
Switches and other components such as the wires are generally attached only to the surface of printed circuit boards. While this approach is sometimes acceptable, problems can arise when it is desired to form robust and compact structures. Traditional component mounting approaches may result in boards that are not sufficiently strong or that have awkwardly protruding components. Traditional approaches may also raise concerns with environmental sealing, the strength with which structures are attached to a board, and manufacturability.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved printed circuit board structures such as printed circuit board structures with embedded switches and other electrical components and improved methods for manufacturing such boards.